Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs

Fiftieth Anniversary of Ireland’s Accession to the European Community: Discussion

Mr. Rory Montgomery:

I have nothing to add to that. This week, Tony Connelly has again been the lead in telling people what is happening.

On the question of the DUP and the Good Friday Agreement, many people would say that the DUP made its bed and has to lie in it.

Reg Empey, the leading Ulster Unionist Party negotiator, was saying that just yesterday. I think it is also fair to say that a majority of people in Northern Ireland, including almost all nationalists, were essentially taken out of the EU against their will. Having said that, I can understand in a way some of the issues unionism has with the protocol. There is no doubt that it does to some extent differentiate further between the treatment of Northern Ireland and that of the UK. At least technically, it can be said to breach one of the provisions of the Act of Union, even though the courts in Northern Ireland have not found that. I believe there might be a ruling today in the Supreme Court-----

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